Historical People and Events for May

•The first United States Postal Card was issued, 1873
•The Empire State Building opened, 1931
•The first United States Series "E" Savings Bond was issued, 1941
•Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas, 1967
•The opera "The Marriage of Figaro," by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered in Vienna, 1786

May 2

•Artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France, 1519
•Captain John Smith landed at Jamestown, 1607
•Good Housekeeping magazine first published in Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1885
•J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 77, 1972
•Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred in Maryland, 1974

May 3

•Washington, D.C. was incorporated as a city, 1802
•West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax, 1921
•Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With The Wind," 1937
•Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain's first female prime minister, 1979

May 4

•Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island, 1626
•Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, 1776
•First Lady Julia Tyler was born, 1820
•Four student anti-war protesters were killed at Kent State University by Ohio National Guardsmen, 1970

May 5

•Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on St. Helena, 1821
•John T. Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution, 1925
•Damn Yankees opened on Broadway, 1955
•Astronaut Alan Shepard went on the first manned space flight, 1961

May 6

•Tennessee & Arkansas seceded from the Union, 1861
•Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a player for the Boston Red Sox, 1915
•The Hindenburg crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., 1937

May 7

•The first inaugural ball was held in New York to honor President and Mrs. George Washington, 1789
•A German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, 1915
•Germany surrendered to the United States, 1945

May 8

•Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River, 1541
•President Harry S. Truman was born, 1884
•First transatlantic flight, 1919
•V-E Day, Victory in Europe (WWII), 1945
•The Beatles UK album Let It Be, was released, 1970

May 9

•First United States newspaper cartoon published in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette,1754
•The Transcontinental Railroad was completed, 1869
•First Lady Harriet Johnston was born, (James Buchanan's niece), 1903
•The 17th amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, 1913

May 10

•Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held fortress at Fort Ticonderoga, New York, 1775
•Benedict Arnold was tried for treason, 1779
•Paul Revere died in Boston, 1818
•General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson died, 1863
•The first Mother's Day observance took place in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1908

May 11

•Minnesota entered the Union, 1858 (32^nd)
•Composer Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia, 1888
•During WWII, American forces landed on Japanese-held Attu island in the Aleutians, 1943
•B.F. Goodrich Company developed the tubeless tire, 1947

May 12

•Last technical day of American Revolutionary War, 1784
•Union forces captured Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1862

May 13

•The English Colony at Jamestown, Virginia, was settled, 1607
•Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant, 1981
•Boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette. Alabama, 1914

May 14

•The first vaccination against smallpox was administered by English doctor Edward Jenner, 1796
•Lewis & Clark's expedition began, 1804
•First Lady Louisa Adams died, 1852
•The first Olympic Games were held in the United States in St. Louis, Missouri, 1904

May 15

•First Lady Ellen Wilson was born, 1860
•The Truman Doctrine was approved, 1947
•Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot and wounded in Laurel, Maryland, 1972

May 16

•Issuance of the nickel coin was authorized by Congress, 1866
•The first Academy Awards were held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 1929
•Annie Get Your Gun opened on Broadway, 1946
•Astronaut Cooper orbited the Earth 22 times, 1963

May 17

•The New York Stock Exchange was established, 1792
•The first Kentucky Derby was held; the winner was "Aristides" 1875

•Godspell opened on Broadway, 1971
•The Senate opened its hearings into the Watergate scandal, 1973
May 18
- •Alexander the Great died, 323 BC
- •The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor, 1804
- •The Tennessee Valley Authority was created, 1933
- •The Beatles US Album, "Let It Be," was released, 1970
- • Mt. St. Helen's volcano in Washington state erupted, 1980
May 19
- •Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII was beheaded, 1536
- •T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia" died in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash, 1935
- •First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died, 1994
May 20
- •Christopher Columbus died in poverty in Spain, 1506
- •First Lady Dolley Madison born, 1768
- •The first railroad timetable was published in the newspaper the Baltimore American, 1830
- •Charles Lindbergh began his historic solo flight, 1927
May 21
- •Hernando de Soto died while searching for gold along the Mississippi River, 1542
- •Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross, 1881
- •Charles Lindbergh arrived in Paris, 1927
- •Gypsy opened on Broadway, 1959
- •The Beatles released their German version of "She Loves You - Sie Liebt Dich," 1964
- •A Chorus Line opened on Broadway, 1975
May 22
- •The first life insurance policy in the United States was issued, in Philadelphia, 1761
- •First Lady Martha Washington died, 1802
- •Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a "Pact of Steel'" committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance, 1939
- •First Lady Helen Taft died, 1943
May 23
- •Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, 1430
- •South Carolina entered the Union, 1788 (8^th)
- •Gangsters Bonnie & Clyde were killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, 1934
- •Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, 1994
May 24
- •The first passenger railroad in the United States began service in Maryland, between Baltimore & Elliott's Mills, 1830
- •Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the first message as America's first telegraph line was opened, 1844
- •The Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, opened to traffic, 1883
- •Mame opened on Broadway, 1966
May 25
- •The Constitutional Convention opened, 1787
- •The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington to Baltimore appeared in the Baltimore Patriot, 1844
- •Babe Ruth hit his 714th and last home run, 1935
- •The Gateway Arch was dedicated in St. Louis, 1968
May 26
- •Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River made surrender arrangements, 1865
- •First Lady Ida McKinley died, 1907
- •The first legal casino opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1978
May 27
- •The first recorded American execution of a witch took place in Massachusetts, 1647
- •Wild Bill Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, 1837
- •The Golden Gate Bridge was opened to the public, 1937
- •The German battleship Bismarck sank off France, 1941
May 28
- •Hernando de Sota landed in Florida, 1541
- •The first black regiment from the North left Boston to fight in the Civil War, 1863
- •United States Customs Court created, 1926
- •Neville Chamberlain became the prime minister of Britain, 1937
May 29
- •Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act, 1765
- •Rhode Island became the13th original colony to ratify the United States Constitution, 1790
- •Wisconsin entered the Union, 1848 (30^th)
- •President John F. Kennedy was born, 1917
May 30
- •Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in France, 1431
- •The first Indianapolis 500 road race was held, 1911
- •The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated, 1922
May 31
- •Walt Whitman was born in West Hill, New York, 1819
- •Two Thousand people perished when a dam break created a flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1889
- •The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution was declared in effect, 1913
- •The last Ford Model T automobile was made, 1927
Copyright© John T. Marck. All Rights Reserved. This article and their accompanying pictures, photographs, and line art, may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author.